1948 - MR BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE, still amusing post World War 2 comedy

 A film about the post World War II housing explosion that occurred in the United States.  Cary Grant is Jim Blandings an advertising executive living in NYC in a cramped apartment along with his wife and two daughters.  Blandings decides enough is enough and buys a rundown house in Connecticut which as it turns out can't be refurbed but needs to be torn down instead.  The humor comes from his decision to build a new home on his now vacant lot.  There are lots of jokes about dealing with contractors, dealing with commuting into NYC and dealing with the hidden expenses of home building.

Cary Grant gives another expert comedy performance as the put upon Blandings.  Myrna Loy is his wife and Melvyn Douglas is the family friend who is also the narrator of the film, he's kind like a Greek chorus commentating on the action.  These three actors were movie stars in the classic Hollywood sense, good looking and charismatic.  They were also expert comedians and knew how to get the most out of a humorous situation.  

 

The director was H.C. Potter and expert at film comedy.  The writers/producers were a couple of Hollywood pros Melvin Frank and Norman Panama who had started out their careers as joke writers for Bob Hope and worked into the 1970's as writer/directors, an impressive career run.

 

A quick shout out to the cinematographer James Wong Howe a Chinese-American who shot over 130 films and was a noted black and white stylist, this is a good looking film from another golden age Hollywood legend.  Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House was a box office success and considering the talent in front and behind the camera couldn't miss.

The running time is 93 minutes. 

1941 - HELLZAPOPPIN features the comedy team of Olson and Johnson whoever they are.

A zany anything goes comedy from a very successful Broadway show of the 1940's. Hellzapoppin was apparently a comedy revue that was almost surrealistic on stage.

 

Universal bought the rights and then proceeded to stick a story on in because they were obviously very nervous about the out of control aspect of the play. Still it appears that a lot of the original nature of the play did make it onto the screen, and it's still some pretty nutty stuff. It has a Citizen Kane joke, for god sakes. and the opening number set in Hell is pretty weird.

  

The stupid love story that the studio stuck onto the film slows the action down, but things pick up towards the end, with an all out anarchistic assault on Broadway and film musical numbers. Mel Brooks obviously got a lot of his ideas from this film. Frankenstein's monster watching in the audience gets things back on track when things get really out of control. Towards the end of the film the stars Ole Olson and Chic Johnson take their curtain call riding pigs.

 

Hellzapopin is proof that even in the 1940's during the rah rah war years, when "truth, justice and the American way" was the clarion call, satire was alive and kicking somewhere.

84 minutes, written by Nat Perrin,  Warren Wilson and Alex Gottlieb.